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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The Macon Film and Video Festival will be Feb 18-22 in Macon, Ga. and one of the special guests will be actress Karen Black who won Golden Globes for her performances in the movies "Five Easy Pieces" and "The Great Gatsby."

Other special guests include actress Carrie Preston, a regular on the HBO comedy "True Blood" and former University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley.

We know lots about the opening credits, I have even just recently visited many of the places featured in them ..more here

Even as American TV has evolved, one of its most charming aspects—the title sequence—has become scarce. To save precious seconds, many shows have jettisoned opening credits in favor of a brief flash of a logo, à la "Lost." It's a shame. A great title sequence is a gilded invitation to join the show's universe.

The credits for the new HBO series "True Blood" (from Alan Ball of "Six Feet Under" ) are the perfect amuse-bouche. The show is about vampires assimilating into rural Louisiana, and the credits are a flip book of Deep South postcards: images of hungry gators and modest homes, neon crosses and dirt roads. In the final shot, a woman is dunked for a river baptism and appears to emerge in hysterics. Either she's in rapture, or just a hairbreadth from drowning. This is the world of "True Blood," where quaint, romantic notions of the South are recast with dread.

The package was made by Digital Kitchen, the agency behind "Six Feet Under's" Emmy-winning sequence. By hiring it again, Ball proves he understands that the slower the curtain is raised, the more intrigued his audience becomes.

Fresh off of a record setting year in which Louisiana saw its highest movie payout to date with Brad Pitt’s, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the state has a promising year ahead in 2009.

Louisiana’s tax incentives are continuing to entice new film ventures to the state with new projects set to film in the coming months around the region including sites around Baton Rouge.

Since the Louisiana Film incentive and Tax Credit Program began in 2002, the state has shown numbers second only to California, thus earning the nickname “Hollywood South.” Currently, the program gives producers a 25 percent tax credit on shooting films in Louisiana as well as an additional 10 percent credit on all payroll used on Louisiana residents in connection with the production.

HBO is currently in the Baton Rouge area working on pre-production efforts for the second season of its hit series, True Blood, starring Anna Paquin. Filming is slated to begin in February. Along with True Blood, HBO is also set to start filming the pilot for a new series, titled Treme, starting March 9, and is still casting roles that call for all ages, ethnicities and types.

The tax incentives have encouraged producers to take a second look at the many historic locations in Louisiana including swamps, plantations and, of course, the famous French Quarter. One producer was especially eager to take advantage of the locations surrounding a Louisiana swamp for the filming of the upcoming bayou thriller, Beard’s Creek.

“The tax incentives in Louisiana are great,” said Beard Creek producer, Ilan Arboleda. “The great locations are an added bonus. It makes choosing Louisiana a no-brainer when it comes to choosing a place to film.”

The movies aren’t the only player finding financial success in Louisiana. The Motion Picture Association of America estimates that major studios bring about $225,000 per day to their shooting locations, which in turn, can become very lucrative to all parties involved in the project both directly and indirectly.

Some notable stars set to make appearances in Louisiana films this year include Val Kilmer, Justin Timberlake, 50 Cent, Sharon Stone, Megan Good and John Cena, among others.

“I’m excited to see so many opportunities in movies here,” says university student Jessica Holman. “I’m trying to get a job on the crew with an upcoming independent movie called, ‘The Chameleon,’ here in Baton Rouge.”

The window for these endeavors could be closing up quick with roughly 40 other states offering similar incentives and subsidies that Louisiana offers according to the Incentives Office, a consulting firm located in California. One state that is gaining ground on Louisiana rather quickly is New Mexico, which has a similar 25 percent tax credit.

Regardless of what happens with the other states vying for Louisiana’s position as one of the premier destinations for filming, this year is sure to be a great success for the state. Much of the films slated for 2009 are still looking for both cast and crew and could make for a great experience for one looking to get into the business, so be sure to keep an eye out for what’s going on in the coming months.

I hadn't seen Tara in a while. She'd gone on a vacation to visit an aunt in south Texas, and since she'd returned she'd been working long hours at the store. At least, that's what she'd said when I'd called her to thank her for the car. When my kitchen had burned, my car had burned with it, and Tara had loaned me her old car, a two-year-old Malibu. She'd acquired a brand-new car (never mind how) and hadn't gotten around to selling the Malibu.

To my astonishment, about a month ago, Tara had mailed me the title and the bill of sale, with a letter telling me the car was now mine. I'd called to protest, but she had stonewalled me, and in the end, there didn't seem to be anything to do but accept the gift graciously.She intended it as payment, since I'd extricated her from a terrible situation. But to help her, I'd had to indebt myself to Eric. I hadn't minded. Tara had been my friend all my life. Now she was safe, if she was smart enough to stay away from the supernatural world.

And to confuse the issue, all those who can change from human form to animal form call themselves shape-shifters, though very few possess Sam's versatility. Shifters who can change to only one animal are were-animals: weretigers (like Quinn), werebears, werewolves. The wolves are the only ones who call themselves simply Weres, and they consider themselves superior in toughness and culture to any of the other shape-shifters.

Weres are also the most numerous subset of shifters, though compared to the total vampire population, there are mighty few of them. There are several reasons for this. The Were birthrate is low, infant mortality is higher than in the general population of humans, and only the first child born of a pure Were couple becomes a full Were.

Mystery, horror, romance and humor combine in HBO's new vampire series "True Blood" based upon the Sookie Stackhouse novels. Sookie, played by Anna Paquin, is a telepathic waitress who is fascinated by vampires. In Sookie's world, they live among us and most drink a blood-like concoction called Tru-Blood rather than chowing down on humans. Sookie has her eye on Bill Compton. Almost 200 years old, the handsome "vamp" was roaming the South when there were plantations and Scarlett O'Hara belles.Handsome, of course, brooding Bill is played by Brit born Stephen Moyer who co-starred with Debra Messing in "The Starter Wife". Picture tall, dark and, yeah, cute.

TeenTelevision: How did you get this job? Was it just a normal audition that your agent sent you to?Stephen: I had come back from Australia, where I had been doing 'The Starter Wife', and, at the time, I was tan and blonde.

TeenTelevision: Whoa, not a good look for a vampire.Stephen: I'd been away for a long time and I didn't want to come to America, straight away. But then, I saw 'True Blood'. I read it and I put myself on tape the next morning. They'd had trouble finding Bill. They'd been looking for about five months. Alan [Ball, series creator] saw it that afternoon, and I flew in the next morning. When Anna and I met and first had those initial meetings with Alan, I was tan and blonde, and she was white with black hair. We've kind of reversed [looks] completely.

TeenTelevision: Weird! Did you know the books?Stephen: I hadn't heard of it ever before. But, as soon as I got the job, I started doing the research and reading the books. My character is from the American Civil War, so I went back to the Civil War and started reading about that.

TeenTelevision: Had you been a fan of the vampire genre before this?Stephen: It's not the genre that I would have jumped at, to be honest. I'd read Anne Rice, but that is about it. I did play a vampire in '98, in a series called 'Ultraviolet'. I have these sharp canines [naturally], so we decided, in that show, not to even give me vampire teeth. But, in this, we have different teeth. I read the book and I could totally understand what Alan saw in it. Sookie is amazing, Bill is a fantastic character, and the world that [author] Charlaine [Harris] sets up is just unbelievable.

TeenTelevision: Can you talk about wearing the vampire teeth and how that works for you?Stephen: As a kid, I had to wear a retainer to push my teeth straight, and it's kind of like having a retainer. You have to learn to talk with them in.

TeenTelevision: Ah, lisping vampires.Stephen: [laughing] There's this hilarious thing where there's four vampires [actors] and we're all sitting around, chatting, and then there's a moment where we all have to have our teeth in, so everybody reaches down and sticks their teeth in and they start talking funny, and it's really not very cool at all. It's quite difficult, but we've all gotten much, much better at talking with them in. And, we've reduced the back plate on the teeth a little bit, so people have gotten better at talking with them.

TeenTelevision: Bill has a rival for Sookie, Eric played by Alexander Skarsgard. What is that relationship like?Stephen: The relationship is one of respect, but mutual dislike. His character is 1,000 years old and my character is 170 years old and, in our story, the older you are, the stronger you are. So, Eric is very strong. Even though Bill can stand up to Eric and fight him, he ultimately has to kow-tow to what Eric wants him to do but, when a vampire has a partner, another vampire is not allowed to encroach on that turf. So, as much as Eric would like to, perhaps, he can't because it's against vampire law. That, of course, is a great lure to Eric and he wants to fight that.

TeenTelevision: Sounds juicy! Are you going to be doing any flashbacks through Bill's life?Stephen: Yes. We go back to the American Civil War. It's in the books, so I'm not revealing anything. But, we go back to Bill, when he was turned. So, 140 years ago, in 1862, he went off to fight in the American Civil War and, three years later, he came back and that's when his life changed. He had a family, he had a wife, and we see him revisit that in his mind. And, that was a beautiful thing to do. It was very moving. And, it was amazing for me, doing the research into that period of time. I didn't really know that much about it. It's obviously not something that's taught in British schools. So, for me, coming here, it was great to use that as a reason to go and do research.

TeenTelevision: What about more flashbacks, to show other time periods?Stephen: Not in the first season, but it's something that we're talking about.

TeenTelevision: What about the backstory of Bill since he became a vampire? Did anybody give you any info on that?Stephen: I've got ideas. I know that the character who turns him is somebody that he's attached to. In our world, when you're turned from a human into a vampire, the person who turns you has power over you. You're linked to them and they're linked to you. There's nothing you can do about it. I know that my history totally goes with that character, all the way through until just recently, where I broke away from her.

TeenTelevision: Oooo, her, huh? Interesting. How hard was it to learn the Louisiana accent?Stephen: It's one of the best things about the job. We went for something that was a very specific sound, that's different from everybody else's, and I hope that comes across. I wanted to make him 100 years different from everybody else. But, instead of being a very Reese Witherspoon sound, that is very modern Southern, he's the only one who's got a different sound. It's Scarlett O'Hara-ish.

TeenTelevision: Perfect. Did you do much vampire research, like watching movies or readingbooks?Stephen: No. I knew of stuff. I read the books. Bill is such a complex character and he's so unlike any other vampire because he's got morals. He's a very ethical man and he wants to be a decent undead being. I think that's a fantastic thing, and so, I didn't feel like I needed to do the research. I wanted to make him precise and still and slow and different from how you would ordinarily perceive a vampire.

TeenTelevision: Other than the fact that she's hot, what is Bill's attraction to Sookie?Stephen: She's naive, yet she's spunky, she's courageous, she's so open-minded, she's intelligent, she's funny. She is other. There is something about her that is different from everybody else that he's ever met. That's why he likes her. He can't work out what it is that's different about her, and he's just compelled by her 'otherness'.***Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.